162. TRAVELS IN UPPER 



when we shall be more advanced, than at present, 

 in the knowledge of the hieroglyphics, and the 

 allegorical representations o( the ancient Egyp- 

 tians. 



All the figures which I have just mentioned 

 are carved with a chisel, but wtthout skill and 

 without proportion, on the walls, or on the co- 

 lumns of the ancient temple of Teiityris^ and 

 they are five or six feet high. But that which is 

 under number 3 of plate XXXV. is in relief. 

 This composes a part of several others likewise 

 elevated in relievo, with which the ceiling of the 

 vestibule is ornamented ; this is one of the first 

 in front of the vestibule, and to the left as you 

 enter. It is not possible to imagine that this 

 figure should liave been carved posterior to the 

 period at which the others were executed. It is 

 confounded with a variety of symbolical represent- 

 ations ; the same chisel has hewn them : It is 

 painted of the same colour, the tint of which has 

 the same vividness ;, in a word, it has, like the 

 rest, the incontestable characters of the same an- 

 tiquity, and it has, like them, existed in the same 

 «difice during the lapse of thousands of years. 



We had but little expectation of finding in a 

 monument of the highest antiquity, and in the 

 heart of Egypt, a sort of sceptre surmounted 



with 



